I'm in the market for a couple of headlamps. My wife and I want them for our GHBs.

Primary requirements:Long battery storage life: these will likely stay packed in the bags, seeing limited use a few times per year (camping trips, etc).Durability / switch security: the bags may get banged around a bit and I don't want them turning on or breaking...Water resistant: Changing a tire in the rain would suck. Doing it in the rain and dark without a headlamp would be worse.Adjustable light output: High and low levels are sufficient, red lamps and additional levels are just a bonus.

My current frontrunner is the Petzel e+LITE. Nice price, long battery storage life, carrying case, water resistant, and multiple levels of light. The only thing I don't like is the fact that it takes coin-cell batteries instead of regular (lithium) AA or AAA batteries.

Does anyone have a better suggestion? The watch battery thing is not a deal killer, but I would prefer to keep a standard set of batteries.

I used a PrincetonTech Fuel for a 700 mile hike on top of butt loads of other little things. (hunting/campting/fishing/etc) It's gotta super long batery life at like 160 hours. It's never craped out on me and has three light settings and a strobe but no red light capability. It's also brighter and has more range then the e+LITE. Runs off of 3 AAA bateries. It's cheap too at about $24.
It doesn't really have a way to protect the switch, but mine rode in a pack for the longest time when not in use and as far as I know has never turned on by itself. I have an e+LITE too, but the Fuel is my go-to headlamp.

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olbaid_dratsab wrote:I used a PrincetonTech Fuel for a 700 mile hike on top of butt loads of other little things. (hunting/campting/fishing/etc) It's gotta super long batery life at like 160 hours. It's never craped out on me and has three light settings and a strobe but no red light capability. It's also brighter and has more range then the e+LITE. Runs off of 3 AAA bateries. It's cheap too at about $24.
It doesn't really have a way to protect the switch, but mine rode in a pack for the longest time when not in use and as far as I know has never turned on by itself. I have an e+LITE too, but the Fuel is my go-to headlamp.

Thanks guys. I'm a fan of PT lights in general, and have several of their dive lights. decent stuff all around.

olbaid_dratsab, I see a few people on Amazon bitching about the plastic battery door. Is this a legit issue or are they just a bunch of whiney morons?

I never had ot break or anything, but sometimes, espeacially if it's cold out and your fingers are numb, it can be a bitch to open. I'm playing with mine right now and its a pain to open. I could see how it could break if you went overly hard on it, prying it with a knife or something. Mine still never has though.

The petzle Tactikka is probably a better light. Judging from the description I would take it over the Princton tec, but it's also twice as much. I used to have a Tikka Tactical that I swore by. Took AA bateries, had a red light and lots o' other goodies. It was a lot bigger though.

I kept the Tikka Tactical around my sunvisor in MY (emphasis on the "MY") HMMWV in the desert. Some other HMMWV broke while patrolling and the vehical NCO gave them MY HMMWV to finnish out the patrol in. That fucker stole my head lamp.

So in all honesty I'd take a Petzle over a PT, but thats only if I didnt have to pay for it.

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I have the Tikka plus that is the same headlamp as the Tac version but does not come with the red filter. I think it may have been upgraded not too long ago from the 4x5mm LEDS to a single CREE with one red 5MM LED but have not seen this myself. The issue I have with my tikka plus is the thing isn't waterproof in anyway. Now it is a simple direct drive headlamp so will work once dried off if flooded and thinking for the most part only the battery area will get flooded but don't know. Anyways mine worked after getting wet once dried. However I think the Rebel EOS can be had for 30-40 bucks and being regulated can use lithium batteries for longer regulated runtime that is not affected by cold weather. Also the EOS has a better low, medium and high settings than the tikka plus line which the Tactikka is a part and regulated with a direct drive once it falls out of regulation. The EOS has an O-ring so is dunkable and is easy to change the batteries providing the main screw is not over tightened. But none of this is to down play the Tikka headlamps. They are on par with the PT 5mm non regulated lights and personally I picked it over the fuel as I was not a big fan of the hinge on the battery latch. Still it seemed like a good headlamp too. It is an update of the good old Aurora. I still have two of them. PT offers a life time backup. They replaced one of my Aurora headlamps purchased 5 years ago.

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing"
"Do not mess with the forces of Nature, for thou art small and biodegradable!"

There is a bit of a lottery with the tint for most LEDs so each light will appear cool or warm but the Rebel LED beats the heck out of the 5MM Tikka LEDs in every way. Never as angry blue. Plus the high is so much brighter.

I have been looking at buying one of the more expensive units for a while also. I bought 4 cheap ($10) units at Wal-Mart a while ago thinking that I could abuse them until they break and then change them out. The thing is, I am still on the first one. It hasn't broken yet. My 3 year old wore it into the shower a few months ago and it still works fine. It uses regular AA batteries. Battery life is pretty good and the batteries are cheaper than the specialty ones. It has both white and red lights. I have one with spare batteries in my BOB.

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ferretrodeo wrote:I have been looking at buying one of the more expensive units for a while also. I bought 4 cheap ($10) units at Wal-Mart a while ago thinking that I could abuse them until they break and then change them out. The thing is, I am still on the first one. It hasn't broken yet. My 3 year old wore it into the shower a few months ago and it still works fine. It uses regular AA batteries. Battery life is pretty good and the batteries are cheaper than the specialty ones. It has both white and red lights. I have one with spare batteries in my BOB.

I have a few cheap Energizer headlamps from Wally world. Put one around the dog's neck during night hikes to keep track. They get flooded when the hound takes a dip in the river but like the Tikka will work as there is not much to short out inside. The downsides are low output and poor beam without any throw. Not enough for nigh hikes off the beaten trail. The older ones had switches that turned on inside the pack. Don't know if the newer Energizers in the 10-14 dollar range are better. For about 19 bucks there is a Rebel/Cree (depends on the light even within the same model) Energize with some extra 5mm LED maybe white and red that seems ok. I have a Husky high definition headlamp that was around 20 bucks. Lights up the whole woods with warm tinted goodness but at the price of runtime.

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing"
"Do not mess with the forces of Nature, for thou art small and biodegradable!"